"Laws are a dead letter without courts to expound and define their true meaning and operation." ~ Alexander Hamilton

"Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser -- in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough." ~ Abraham Lincoln

"A man who never graduated from school might steal from a freight car. But a man who attends college and graduates as a lawyer might steal the whole railroad." ~ Theodore Roosevelt

"Pretty much all law consists in forbidding men to do something that they want to do." ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Supreme Court Justice

"When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free." ~ Charles Evans Hughes, Supreme Court Justice

"War should be made a crime, and those who instigate it should be punished as criminals." ~ Charles Evans Hughes, Supreme Court Justice

"Men do not die from overwork. They die from dissipation and worry." ~ Charles Evans Hughes, Supreme Court Justice

"And it is no less true, that personal security and private property rest entirely upon the wisdom, the stability, and the integrity of the courts of justice." ~ Joseph Story, Supreme Court Justice

"Without justice being freely, fully, and impartially administered, neither our persons, nor our rights, nor our property, can be protected. And if these, or either of them, are regulated by no certain laws, and are subject to no certain principles, and are held by no certain tenure, and are redressed, when violated, by no certain remedies, society fails of all its value; and men may as well return to a state of savage and barbarous independence." ~ Joseph Story, Supreme Court Justice

"By ensuring that no one in government has too much power, the Constitution helps protect ordinary Americans every day against abuse of power by those in authority." ~ John Roberts, Supreme Court Justice

"Trivial facts are often the best hints to what is going on." ~ John Roberts, Supreme Court Justice

"We have a complex system of government. You have to teach it to every generation." ~ Sandra Day O'Connor, Supreme Court Justice

"The courts of this country should not be the places where resolution of disputes begins. They should be the places where the disputes end after alternative methods of resolving disputes have been considered and tried." ~ Sandra Day O'Connor, Supreme Court Justice

"Commitment to the rule of law provides a basic assurance that people can know what to expect whether what they do is popular or unpopular at the time." ~ Sandra Day O'Connor, Supreme Court Justice

"The aim of the law is not to punish sins, but is to prevent certain external results." ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Supreme Court Justice

"The Constitution doesn't belong to a bunch of judges and lawyers. It belongs to you." ~ Anthony Kennedy, Supreme Court Justice

"The Press was to serve the governed, not the governors." ~ Hugo Black, Supreme Court Justice

"The Press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a Free and Unrestrained Press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a Free Press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people." ~ Hugo Black, Supreme Court Justice

"I read the Washington Post and the New York Times every day, and I think that the reporters are trying to tell the public the way things are." ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court Justice

"The task of a judge is not to make the law - it is to apply the law. ~ Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court Justice

"If there were no bad people there would be no good lawyers." ~ Charles Dickens

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." ~ John Adams

"When you have no basis for an argument, abuse the plaintiff." ~ Cicero, Roman orator

"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important." ~ Martin Luther King

"Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress." ~ Martin Luther King

"If you want good laws, burn those you have and make new ones." ~ Voltaire

"I was never ruined but twice; once when I lost a lawsuit and once when I won one." ~ Voltaire

"It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive." ~ Earl Warren, Supreme Court Justice

"...the Constitution will endure as a vital charter of human liberty as long as there are those with the courage to defend it, the vision to interpret it, and the fidelity to live by it." ~ William J. Brennan Jr., Supreme Court Justice

"…debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open and it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials." ~ William J. Brennan Jr., Supreme Court Justice

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"Law is the wisdom of the ages wrapped in the opinion of the moment." ~ Drop Dead Diva, TV Series (2009 - 2015)

"If the law against you, bang on the facts. If the facts against you, bang on the law. If both against you, bang on a table." ~ Drop Dead Diva, TV Series (2009 - 2015)

"Justice delayed, is justice denied." ~ William E. Gladston

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." ~ William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2

"The life of the law has not been logic; it has been EXPERIENCE." ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

"INTEGRITY is the key to understanding legal practice. Law's empire is defined by attitude, not territory or power or process." ~ Ronald Dworkin

"It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive." ~ Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States

"I always turn to the sports pages first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures." ~ Chief Justice of the United States Earl Warren

"I hate banks. They do nothing positive for anybody except take care of themselves. They're first in with their fees and first out when there's trouble." ~ Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States

"The one great principle of the English law is, to make business for itself." ~ Charles Dickens

"When a judge sits in judgment over a fellow man, he should feel as if a sword is pointed at his own heart." ~ Talmud

"The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every other calling, is diligence. Leave nothing for to-morrow which can be done to-day. Never let your correspondence fall behind." ~ Abraham Lincoln

"One of the most solemn responsibilities of the president--and it's set out expressly in the Constitution--is that the president is to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, and that means the Constitution. It means statutes. It means treaties. It means all of the laws of the United States." ~ Samuel Alito, Supreme Court Justice

"A judge can't have any preferred outcome in any particular case. The judge's only obligation - and it's a solemn obligation - is to the rule of law." ~ Samuel Alito, Supreme Court Justice

"I think that the legitimacy of the court would be undermined in any case if the court made a decision based on its perception of public opinion." ~ Samuel Alito, Supreme Court Justice

"Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman." ~ Louis Brandeis, Supreme Court Justice

"Everyone is presumed good, and in doubtful cases the resolution should be for the accused." ~ Roman Law, c. 500 B.C.

"Know ye the truth and the truth will set us free." ~ Book of John, 8:32

Lawyers Jokes

"The lawyer died and went directly to the Pearly Gates.
St. Peter says to him,
“You only look about 45 years old.”
“Yes,” says the lawyer, “I just turned 45.”
“But our records say that you are 94 years old.”
“Oh,” responded the lawyer, “you must have been looking at my billing records.”

The client started to question the lawyer about part of his bill.
“What is this $100 charge for?” asked the client.
The lawyer replied,
“That’s when I was walking downtown. I saw you on the other side of the street, crossed over to say hello, and found out that it wasn’t you."

"The advantages? Exercise, no parking problems, gas prices, it's fun. An automobile is expensive. You have to find a place to park and it's not fun. So why not ride a bicycle? I recommend it." ~ Stephen Breyer, Supreme Court Justice